Binding procedure

ABSTRACT

In a system comprising control units for sending commands to system units, each system unit comprises a table for storing the identification of at least one control unit and a command. In a binding mode the content of the table can be changed making use of a control unit.

The invention relates to a system comprising control stations andsubstations controlled by said control stations, which stations comprisetransfer means for communication between said stations via a transfermedium.

More in particular, the invention relates to a remote control system inwhich bindings are effected between the control stations and thesubstations controlled by said control stations, based on one on one,one on many or many on one, i.e. a binding between a control station anda substation, a control station and a number of substations or a numberof control stations and one substation. The term binding is understoodto mean a connection such that a controlled substation will only respondto control signals from the control station to which said substation isbound or connected.

An important field of application is the field of the remote control ofappliances and apparatuses such as, in a special case, luminaries,sunblind units, heating equipment and the like in buildings. Hereinafterreference will be made to such a special application, without anylimitation of the scope of the invention being intended by saidreference.

In this special application, the control stations will form part ofhand-held remote control units, and the controlled substations will formpart of luminaries, for example, in which said substations in turnperform control functions of turning the lamps in the luminaries on/off,dimming said lamps etc. Hereinafter, the control stations will be calledtransmitters for easy reference, after all, said control stations arethe transmitters of remote control signals, and the controlledsubstations will be called receivers, because said substations are thereceivers of the remote control signals. The above, however, does notalter the fact that the controlled substations (the receivers), forreasons other than the mere transfer of remote control signals, maycomprise transmission means for transferring different types of signals,and that the control stations (transmitters) may comprise receivingmeans for receiving said different types of signals, as will becomeapparent hereinafter.

The object of the invention is to provide a system of the type asdescribed above, in which the bindings between the transmitters and thereceivers can be effected in a flexible manner, i.e. in a manner whichmakes it readily possible to add or remove receivers at a subsequentpoint in time, i.e. to effect a new binding between a receiver and atransmitter to which said receiver was not bound before, or to remove anexisting binding between a receiver and a transmitter. Subsequentaddition/removal relates to the situation in which a systemconfiguration has already been created through bindings betweentransmitters and receivers, which configuration must be altered at asubsequent point in time. It may be necessary in that case to effect newbindings or to remove existing bindings.

From EP 1 058 219 there is known as system of the kind referred to inthe introduction, in which receivers make their identification codesknown to a transmitter in response to a general call signal, and inwhich said identification codes are stored in the transmitter,functioning therein to effect bindings (after verification) between thetransmitter and the receivers. It is not indicated in said document howa binding with a newly added receiver can be effected “subsequently”, inthe sense as described above, without affecting other receivers that arealready bound, nor is it indicated how an existing binding can beremoved. Said known system does not comprise a possibility ofadding/removing receivers to/from an existing configuration oftransmitters and receivers, therefore in a flexible manner, whichpossibility is required in practice.

In accordance with the object of the invention, a system comprisingcontrol stations and substations controlled by said control stations,which stations comprise transfer means for communication between thestations via a transfer medium, in which a control station comprisestransmission means for transferring a control code signal and asubstation comprises receiving means for receiving a control codesignal, as well as execution means for processing said control codesignal, is characterized in that each substation comprises table meansfor storing registrations in table form therein, each registrationcomprising at least an identification code of a control station and acontrol code, and table processing means for updating the table in abinding mode on the basis of a command received from a control stationto enter a new registration or remove an existing registration, andverifying in a normal mode whether a received identification code and acontrol code are stored in the table, and if this is not the case,disabling the aforesaid execution means, in which the aforesaidtransmission means are also arranged for transmitting, in combinationwith a control code signal, an identification code signal whichidentifies the control station, and in which means are present forplacing the aforesaid table processing means in the binding mode.

In the table means, called table for the sake of brevity, of eachsubstation it is thus recorded by means of a registration to whichcontrol station or control stations the substation has a so-termedbinding, and consequently which control codes, i.e. the control codesfrom which control station or control stations will be processed by theexecution means, that is, control codes will only be processed if theregistration in the table indicates that a binding with said controlstation exists.

According to the system of the invention it is not only possible to binda substation to a particular control station or a number of controlstations, therefore, but also to a particular control code from saidcontrol station or control stations, which control code is related, forexample, to a particular control key of the main station, so that agroup of substations can be controlled therewith, for example, ordifferent substations can be controlled with different keys.

The initial setting of the table upon installation of the system can becarried out in various ways, depending on the configuration of thesystem.

It is conceivable to provide each substation with a key to be operatedby an operator, which key in turn operates a switch for placing thetable processing means in the binding mode. In this simple case thesystem according to the invention as mentioned above already exhibitsall the essential features of a practically feasible system. The signaltransfer from a control station to the substation may take place via awire connection, but also by means of a wireless connection, for exampleby means of infrared radiation or electromagnetic radiation.

In those cases in which it is problematic for practical reasons toprovide a key, it is conceivable to use a selective call system,according to which system substations can be selectively called, whichsubstations can then be selectively placed in the binding mode by meansof a binding mode setting signal selectively transferred thereto.Selective call systems are generally known and require no furtherexplanation. The system according to the invention can be used incombination with such a selective call system, in which the signalsexchanged in the binding mode can be considered to be an additionalsignaling layer of the selective call system.

The signal transfer from a control station to a substation and therecording of registrations in the table in the substation can take placein a reliable manner if both stations are provided with means, which areknown per se, for carrying out a known signal exchange procedure orprotocol, also known as “handshake” procedure.

The identification of a substation whose identity is not known inadvance can likewise take place in a manner which is known, for examplefrom the aforesaid EP 1 058 219, by supplying a general call signal froma control station to the substations, which substations are arranged forresponding thereto by transferring an identification code to the controlstation in question, which subsequently stores the identification codesthat are received so as to be able to selectively call the substationson the basis thereof.

It should be noted, however, that the invention does not depend on themanner in which a substation is identified (which, as already mentionedabove, may take place by means of a key on the substation), nor on themanner in which the communication between a control station and anidentified substation is effected (via a wire connection, infrared orelectromagnetic radiation), for the purpose of binding a substation to acontrol station.

Essential for the invention are only the features defined in thecharacterizing portion of claim 1.

The invention will now be explained in more detail on the basis of apractical remote control system for lighting in a building by means ofluminaries, in which, as already mentioned before, the control stationsare incorporated in hand-held remote control units provided with keys,and in which the substations form part of the luminaries, in whichluminaries said substations in turn control lamp control units; for thesake of simplicity, the hand-held remote control units will be referredto as transmitters (of remote control signals) and the substations willbe referred to as receivers (of remote control signals) in thedescription.

What will be discussed is a remote control system, with radiotransmission taking place between the transmitters and the receivers, inwhich the identity of which receivers is not known in advance and inwhich bindings must be affected between the transmitters and thereceivers after installation of the luminaries, with the whole of thebindings being called a configuration, which is to be formed uponinstallation and which may require alteration during operation.Consequently, the “transmitters” of such a system will comprise radioreceiving means and the “receivers” will comprise radio transmissionmeans for two-way communication. Said means, which are implicitlyassumed to be present, are known per se. For the sake of a simple andpurposeful description of the operation of the system according to theinvention, the following conventions are established.

The system comprises transmitters A, B, C . . . , which each have anidentification code or address, likewise referred to as A, B, C . . . .The transmitters comprise keys, which have been allocated key codes TCn(n is 1, 2 . . . ).

The system furthermore comprises receivers X, Y, Z . . . , whichlikewise each have an identification code or address, which is likewisereferred to as X, Y, Z . . . .

BM indicates a code (signal) for placing a receiver in the binding mode.

NM indicates a code (signal) for placing a receiver in the normal mode.

-   -   ACK indicates a confirmation code (signal), which can be        returned to a transmitter by a receiver.

D indicates a code (signal) for removing a binding.

Besides keys for normal remote control, a transmitter also has keys forplacing a transmitter in the binding mode (also indicated BM),selectively calling receivers (indicated N (next) and P (preceding)) andremoving a binding from a receiver (indicated D).

Communication between the stations takes place by means ofmessages/signals, which may be combinations of various codes, forexample the message A+X+BM, which is a combination of a transmitteridentification code A, a receiver identification code X and a code BMwhich indicates that the receiver must enter the binding mode.

It is implicitly assumed that in those cases in which messages/signalswhich can also be transferred in the normal remote control mode NM, suchas A+TC1, are being transferred in the binding mode, saidmessages/signals have different codes so as not to cause any confusion.

Now a description will be given of the operation of the remote controlsystem as regards the effecting of a configuration of bindings andalterations thereof.

An operator of a transmitter presses a key BM or two keys BMsimultaneously, thus placing the transmitter, for example thetransmitter A, in the binding mode (with a characteristic light signalpossibly being delivered by a light-emitting diode (LED) on thetransmitter).

Then a key N or P is pressed (which is disabled in the normal mode),causing the transmitter to transfer the message A+BM, as a result ofwhich all the receivers that receive said message are placed in thebinding mode (it will be explained hereinafter that in a preferredembodiment of the invention this will only be the case with receiverswhich are “free”, i.e. which do not have any bindings yet or which arebound to the transmitter A).

A receiver (for example X) which receives the message A+BM (and which,in the preferred embodiment, is “free” or bound to the transmitter A),returns the message X, which message is received by the transmitter Aand stored in, for example, a circulating memory together with messagesY, Z . . . being received from other receivers within the range of thetransmitter A. (The LED on the transmitter A may deliver acharacteristic light signal during the search for receivers, and adifferent signal when all the receivers have been found.) (A receiverwhich has received and processed the message A+BM can manifest itself,for example, by means of a light signal or by turning on the luminary.)The operator presses the key N (or P) in that case for selecting areceiver, as a result of which the transmitter transfers the messageA+X, for example, if X is the first address that is ready in thecirculating memory, which message is subsequently received and processedby the receiver X, which is confirmed by the message ACK from thereceiver X to the transmitter A (the LED on the transmitter A willdeliver a characteristic light signal upon receipt of ACK, whilst adifferent signal will be delivered if ACK is not received (within apredetermined period of time)).

If the message ACK has been received, the operator will press the key towhich the receiver X will have to respond in the normal mode, and thetransmitter A will transfer the message A+TC1, for example, if thereceiver must respond to TC1. The receiver X responds to said message bystoring the codes A and TC1 in table means according to the inventionpresent in every receiver, with each combination of a transmitter code,such as A, and a key code, such as TC1, indicating a binding of thereceiver (X in this case), not only to a particular transmitter (A inthis case) but also to a particular key (TC1 in this case) of saidparticular transmitter. Furthermore, the receiver X confirms the receiptand processing of the message (A+TC1) by returning the message ACK. (TheLED on the transmitter A may deliver a characteristic light signal againupon receipt of ACK.)

The operator may now elect, by pressing the key N or the key P, to binda further receiver, whose address is now ready in the circulatingmemory, to the transmitter in the manner as already described withregard to the receiver X, according to which manner also the receiver Y,for example, is bound to the transmitter A, for example by means of thekey TC2 in this case. Receivers which have been placed in the bindingmode and which will not be further bound will return to the normal modeafter some time, or otherwise, for example in response to a generalmessage NM being transferred from the transmitter to all the receivers.

In this way a configuration has been effected between the receivers Xand Y and the transmitter A/key code TC1 or the transmitter A/key codeTC2.

The process as described above may be carried out with conventionalmeans which are usually already present in such a system, such as radioreceiving/transmitting means, signal processing means, means forcontrolling the LED, code storage means etc. The means that are morespecific to the invention, such as the table means in the receiver andthe table processing means (yet to be described) can also be realized bymeans which are known per se by a person skilled in the art on the basisof the directions with regard to the process that are provided herein.

Consequently, component parts are only represented by a few blocks inFIGS. 1 and 2, which show block diagrams of a transmitter and areceiver, respectively, and the means which are more specific to theinvention are represented by blocks which will be described morespecifically, although it will be understood that the functionsperformed by the blocks may be integrated in a single programmedmicroprocessing unit (microprocessor, microcontroller).

The transmitter being represented in the block diagram of FIG. 1comprises a keypad 1 consisting of a number of keys, a signal processingunit 2 with associated encoding means 3 for the various codes A, TC1 etcthat are used, radio transmitting/receiving means 4, 5, a signalprocessing unit 6, identification code storage means 7, an LED indicator8, and further usual means (not shown) for the power supply etc.

The receiver as shown in FIG. 2 comprises radio receiving/transmittingmeans 10, 11, a signal processing unit 12, table means 13, tableprocessing means 14, control command execution means 15, a commandoutput 16, and signal processing means 17 with associated encoding means18. The table means 13 (FIG. 2) function to contain identification codesand key codes of the transmitter to which the receiver is bound.

In the normal mode, i.e. during normal operation of the remote controlsystem, a receiver will verify by means of the table processing 14 uponreceipt of a control message, for example A+TC1, whether this is messagewhose code is stored in the table means. If this is not the case, thetable processing means 14 will disable the control command/executionmeans 15, as a result of which no further action will be taken inresponse to said message. If the control code, for example A+TC1 in thiscase, does occur in the table, said disabling will not take place, orthe control command/execution means 15 will be enabled to supply thedecoded control command to the command output 16, and from there tofurther control means of, for example, the luminary.

In a preferred embodiment of the system according to the invention thetable processing means 14, in addition to performing the above-mentionedfunctions of entering codes into the table 13 in the binding mode,verifying the presence of codes in the table 13 in the normal mode, anddisabling/enabling the execution means 15 in dependence thereon, alsoperform the function of preventing, in the normal mode, the receiverfrom transferring the identification code thereof to the transmitterafter it has been determined that an identification code received fromsaid transmitter does not correspond to a code stored in the tablemeans.

This additional function of the table processing means can be usedadvantageously in the case that a configuration of transmitters andreceivers must be altered after the initial installation of the lightingsystem.

The operation of the system will now be described in connection with thealteration of an existing configuration, in which the receivers X and Yare bound to the transmitter A, for example, and the receiver X mustalso be bound to the transmitter B, for example.

The operator of the transmitter A presses the key or keys BM in thatcase, and the same is done by the operator of the transmitter B, as aresult of which both the transmitter A and the transmitter B are placedin the binding mode. The operator of the transmitter A then presses thekey N or P, and the transmitter A subsequently transmits the messageA+BM. Said message is in principle received by every receiver within therange of the transmitter A, but in the preferred embodiment of theinvention only the table processing means 14 of the receivers thatalready have a binding to the transmitter A will establish that the codeA of the message A+BM is present in the associated table 13. In thepreferred embodiment, the table processing means 14 also function toprevent the receiver being placed in the binding mode if the receiver isbound to transmitters other than, in this example, the transmitter A.Consequently, said receiver will not return a message to the transmitterA.

The receiver X, which is bound to the transmitter A, returns the messageX to the transmitter A, and corresponding messages may be received fromother receivers that are bound to the transmitter A, and theidentification codes thereof are stored in the code storage means 7. Theoperator can select the receiver a X in a manner as already describedbefore by operating the keys N and P. Following that, the operator ofthe transmitter a B operates a key and sends the message B+TC2, forexample if the key TC2 is being pressed. The receiver X receives themessage B+TC2 and stores the codes in the table 13, by means of whichthe binding to the transmitter B/key TC2 has been effected. A similarprocedure can be used for removing a binding. Using the same example asabove, the operator can have the transmitter A send the message A+−D,after the transmitter A has selected the receiver X, by pressing a key D(disconnect), whereupon the table processing means 14 in the receiver Xwill erase the code A in the table 13.

From the foregoing it will be understood that the procedure of alteringa configuration by adding or removing a binding will not affect otherexisting configurations in any way, because the table processing meansof the preferred embodiments prevent receivers which only form part ofsaid other configurations being placed in the binding mode. Onlyreceivers, which form part of the configuration that is being altered,will respond, thus preventing existing configurations being interferedwith.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is also very advantageous uponinitial configuration following the installation of the lighting system,at which point no bindings exist yet. As soon as receivers are bound toa transmitter, for example the transmitter A, said receivers will nolonger respond to messages from other transmitters attempting to placereceivers in the binding mode. The number of receivers, which respond,will decrease in the course of the configuration procedure, therefore,as more receivers are being bound to transmitters, as a result of whichthe possible problem of distinguishing between the responses from thevarious receivers will automatically be alleviated in the course of theconfiguration procedure. This possible problem may be alleviated in amanner which is known, by having the receiver respond to a signal from atransmitter with different time delays that have been programmed forevery individual receiver, resulting in a certain structuring as regardsthe response time of the receive. In the preferred embodiment accordingto the invention, the number of responses decreases as the bindingprocedure progresses, and the problem will automatically be alleviated.

It will be understood that the means for performing functions that havebeen discussed in the above may be implemented in various ways known tothose skilled in the art, for example in hardware, software,hardware-implemented software, specific circuits and combinationsthereof, and that the blocks that are shown in the figure are merelyillustrative, and that the signal processing means of the transmittersand the receivers can be realized in an advantageous manner in the formof a suitably programmed microprocessing unit (microprocessor ormicrocontroller), which programming will not present a person skilled inthis field of the art who has perused the above description of thefunctions with any special problems.

1. A system comprising control stations and substations controlled by said control stations, which stations comprise transfer means for communication between said stations via a transfer medium, in which a control station comprises transmission means for transferring a control code signal and a substation comprises receiving means for receiving a control code signal as well as execution means for processing said control code signal, characterized in that each substation comprises table means for storing registrations in table form therein, each registration comprising at least an identification code of a control station and a control code, and table processing means for updating the table in a binding mode on the basis of a command received from a control station to enter a new registration or remove an existing registration, and verifying in a normal mode whether a received identification code and a control code are stored in the table, and if this is not the case, disabling the aforesaid execution means, in which the aforesaid transmission means are also arranged for transmitting, in combination with a control code signal, an identification code signal which identifies the control station, and in which means are present for placing the aforesaid table processing means in the binding mode.
 2. A system as claimed in claim 1, in which said substations comprise transmission means for transferring an identification code signal identifying said substation, characterized in that said table processing means are also arranged for disabling the aforesaid transmission means of the substation in the normal mode after it has been determined that an identification code received from a control station does not correspond to an identification code stored in the table means in the case that the table means contain at least one identification code, and maintaining said table processing means in the normal mode after said determination has been made. 